A three-star general has warned that teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the military divides soldiers by race, diminishes our “warfighting capabilities,” and increases the likelihood of “failure” on the battlefield. Lieutenant General Greg Newbold (USMC, Ret.) strongly criticized military leaders — and civilian commanders — who “favor social engineering goals” over “meritocracy” and military preparedness.
“The tenets of Critical Race Theory – a cross-disciplinary intellectual and social movement that seeks to examine the intersection of race and law in the United States, but which has the unfortunate effect of dividing people along racial lines – undermine our military’s unity and diminish our warfighting capabilities,” wrote Newbold in the military publication Task & Purpose on Thursday. “[W]hen we highlight differences or group identity, we undermine cohesion and morale. Failure results.”
Newbold, the former director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military requires conformity and unity; “group identity is corrosive and … antithetical to the traits that deter a potential enemy and win the wars.”
“Those officeholders who dilute this core truth with civil society’s often appropriate priorities (diversity, gender focus, etc.) undermine the military’s chances of success in combat. Reduced chances for success mean more casualties,” he wrote.
“Combat is the harshest meritocracy that exists,” he added, calling for “ruthless adherence to this principle.” Military leaders risk the nation’s safety when they “dilute requirements based purely on merit in favor of predetermined outcomes to favor social engineering goals.” He said the desire to place women in combat positions was one such example. Combat units must reflect “the highest levels of discipline, fitness, cohesion, esprit, and just plain grit.”
Newbold obliquely criticized both President Joe Biden and Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley. America’s leaders suffering from “warfare dementia” forget the high casualties of war “most assuredly will be paid in blood. The condition is exacerbated and enabled when the most senior military leaders — those who ought to know better — defer to the idealistic judgments of those whose credentials are either nonexistent or formed entirely by ideology,” he wrote.
Newbold sounded similar alarms last July, when he wrote in The Federalist:
Our adversaries observe how social engineering has become deeply embedded in our military, and they conclude that we are weak, built on feet of clay. They lampoon and deride our silliness (and so do many of our troops).
When enemies read of male soldiers wearing pregnancy suits and high heels, required “sensitivity” training, “Emma and her two moms” recruiting videos, “safe spaces” from the pressures of introductory training, the dilution of our ground combat forces, and transgender special treatment, they judge these actions not by our standards, but by their own.